Whale Watching

---

Day 6 Interisland ferry to Picton- was a lovely crossing. It's always windy in Wellington. I wouldn't like to fly in, the runways a tiny strip with sea on both sides and because there are mountains on both sides of Wellington there is a constant wind tunnel going on.
Can imagine the ferry must be choppy most days, but today beautiful!! We crossed the twenty odd miles in 3 hours. It takes so long because of the dangerous channels and many islands in the Marlborough sounds.
The bus took us directly to a vineyard in Blenheim where we sampled some sauvignon, Riesling and Chardonnay, then bought some to drink with our (massive( green lipped mussels that night, cooked on the barbecue. Looking forward to trying the smoked version later.
Then we headed to Hamner Springs to sample the 15 outdoor spa pools and sleep the night.
Kaikoura is a seaside resort on the East coast. We went on a fabulous Whale watching tour, 3 hours scouring the sea for whales and not in vain!! First we saw the magnificent sperm whale, when it dives it's tail wheeks up in the air. Then we were priviledged to observe a family of Orcas playing around our boat. These killer whales are actually large dolphins who eat other dolphins and whales! We also spotted West Port Petrels and the Wandering Albatross (magnificent).

---

Photos

Sperm whale
Thar she blows!

Comments

[Sue Greig]

Fantastic...........................
to follow you on your adventures. Off to Spain at the end of the month for a few days. Seems very tame by comparison. Lots of love, Sue xxx